The cost of fame may be a shortened lifespan, study finds

In this Jan. 7, 2001 photo, actor Michael Clarke Duncan shows off two awards for the film “The Green Mile.” He passed away in 2012 at the age of 54.

Photograph by: AP Photo/Michael Caulfield
, Postmedia News

What’s the price of glory? If you’re a noted artist, performer or sports player, try a few years off your life.

So suggests a new study of career success, terminal disease frequency and longevity in which researchers found that “the price of fame is a faster flame.” That conclusion is based on 1,000 consecutive obituaries published in the New York Times between 2009 and 2011, wherein athletes, performers and creative types led the shortest lives, and individuals recognized for business, military service and politics led the longest.

“If you consider that fame tends to come earlier to (sports and performing) careers than, say, to academics or professionals, then this shouldn’t be altogether unanticipated from a statistician’s viewpoint,” said study co-author Dr. Richard Epstein, who holds appointments at the University of New South Wales and St. Vincent’s Hospital in Australia.

“Nonetheless, the question is raised as to why our sample showed earlier deaths in this group. A much larger study would be needed to clarify this; inclusion of dangerous sports like boxing or car racing could be involved, or biases towards publishing obituaries of those who suffered tragic early deaths could contribute. Still, the difference between different career groups remains intriguing.”

Researchers organized the late luminaries (an obit in the Times was presumed to signal career prestige) according to occupation. For instance, actors, singers, musicians and dancers were classified as ‘performers;’ writers, composers, artists and photographers were dubbed ‘creatives;’ and historians, linguists, philosophers and economists were ‘academics.’

Though the sample was limited to individuals whom the newspaper chose to honour – notably, more than 80 per cent of the obits were for men – some interesting trends emerged.

Athletes, performers and creative types met their maker soonest (77.4 years, 77.1 years and 78.5 years, respectively), whereas people known for their military service, business backgrounds or political participation lived the longest (84.7 years, 83.3 years and 82.1 years, respectively).

Additionally, the analysis found younger deaths were most often linked to accidents, infection and organ-specific cancers, while “old age” was the most-cited cause of death for philanthropists, academics and doctors (less so for athletes, performers and creative workers).

Finally, deaths linked to cancer – especially that of the lung – were most common amongst performers and creative types.

“The most tempting speculation from this small study is that avoidable risk behaviours – including, but not limited to, smoking, alcohol and illicit drugs – could be differentially distributed between the different career types,” said Epstein. “One has only to look at the tremendous creative surge of the 1960s to get the impression that drug use – not only the illicit variety, but also cigarettes and alcohol – fuelled a lot of this remarkable creative productivity.”

The study, co-authored by the University of Queensland’s Catherine Epstein, was published this month in the medical journal QJM.

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